Spotlighted Student: Eric Brown, 2010

Published on: 05/03/10

Haverford’s academic reputation, its geography, and its small liberal arts status all appealed to Eric Brown, as did the Honor Code. Haverford’s sports programs were also very attractive, considering Eric played forward for four years on his high school basketball team and was the captain of his high school lacrosse team. Therefore, it was the perfect fit for him to play defense for Haverford’s lacrosse team.

Raised in Kinnelon, New Jersey, Eric will be graduating in May with a Major in Economics. A member of the Howard Teaf Business Society, Eric plays squash, rowed for crew and plays intramural basketball as well.

Introduction to Microeconomics with Professor Saleha Jilani was one of the first economics classes that he took at Haverford. This class ignited his interest in Economics as did Statistical Methods in Economics with Professor Richard Ball with its study of data and trends in real-world scenarios. Eric was also a Teaching Assistant for Professor Saleha Jilani and Professor David Owens.

Philosophy Professor Ashok Gangadean’scourse, Topics in the Philosophy of Language: Metaphor, Meaning and the Dialogical Mind, has had a lasting impact on Eric, introducing him to a whole new way of thinking about, literally, everything.

Eric has had some interesting summer jobs including being the equipment manager for the New Jersey Pride, a professional lacrosse team. He also helped with the start-up of hometown Silver Stream Steel, a small company in the business of importing and exporting products to Southeast Asia.

In his thesis Eric is examining the determinants of Foreign Direct Investment in developing countries. He is assessing the relative importance of institutions and infrastructure versus tax and subsidiary incentives in attracting incoming Foreign Direct Investment. He is examining 100 developing countries over a 35 year period.

Eric is currently looking for jobs in the Northeastern part of the country in the field of finance or consulting and is applying to Harvard and Stanford Business Schools.

Given his passion for both the theoretical and mathematical aspects of economics, Eric plans on eventually getting a PhD in economics.